Candidate lawsuit seeks to unseat state NM Republican party chair, prohibit endorsements
A lawsuit filed by Republican candidates seeks to remove New Mexico GOP Chair Amy Barela and block party endorsements in contested primary races.
Plaintiffs Duke Rodriguez and Aubrey Blair Dunn say Republican Party is amplifying candidates it prefers despite rules
Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
This article was originally published by Source New Mexico.
Three Republican candidates filed a lawsuit Thursday against Republican Party of New Mexico Chair Amy Barela and other party officials, urging an Otero County judge to remove her from her post and prohibit the party from endorsing candidates during the ongoing primary election.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez, lieutenant governor candidate Aubrey Blair Dunn and Otero County Commission candidate Jonathan Emery allege that party rules prohibit Barela from serving as chairwoman while also running for re-election as an Otero County commissioner.
Party rules say that when the state’s party chair “files as a candidate for public office and there is another Republican who has filed for the same office, the state officer shall immediately vacate the party office.”
In addition to violating the rule, Barela’s role as chairwoman disadvantages Emery, her opponent, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs, with the help of Ruidoso attorney Gary Mitchell, filed the lawsuit in the 12th Judicial District, which includes Otero County.
The Republican Party’s leadership “has failed in its duties to ensure that [Emery] has a fair opportunity as a Republican Candidate to compete in the upcoming election,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit represents an escalation of controversy brewing for months around Barela’s leadership at RPNM. In March, Bernalillo County Republicans called for her to step down due to what they said amounted to a “cut and dry” violation of party rules.
In response, the state Republican party commissioned an outside review of the matter, which determined that Barela did not violate the rules because she filed for candidacy two minutes before Emery did.
The review focused on the party rule’s requirement that says the chair must resign if another Republican “has filed” for the same race. Because Barela filed before there was a confirmed challenger, the report says, she is “fully compliant” with the rule.
Rodriguez and Dunn also allege party officials have violated party rules by endorsing candidates.
At issue is a social media post the party published April 21 amplifying a Lea County candidate “meet and greet” featured Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Turner and lieutenant governor candidate NM Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eunice).
Rodriguez and Dunn say in the lawsuit they were not invited to the event and noted that party officials ended the post about the event with, “You don’t want to miss this!”
Dunn contended in an interview with Source NM this week that the party amplifying and encouraging attendance to an event from which he and Rodriguez were excluded amounted to an endorsement. Party rules prohibit officers from endorsing one “Republican candidate over another Republican candidate in a primary.”
“The party comes in on certain of these meet and greets and says, ‘You don’t want to miss this,’ with just those candidates in it,” Dunn said. “Maybe it’s not the clearest endorsement, but it’s more endorsement than they should be giving.”
Barela and the Republican Party of New Mexico did not immediately respond Friday afternoon to requests for comment from Source NM.
Dunn said the lawsuit is necessary because Barela and the rest of the party are ignoring “unambiguous” party rules and, in doing so, depriving Republican voters of a fair and open primary election.
Dunn said a lawsuit that seeks a judge’s intervention regarding alleged political party rulebreaking has occurred in cases across the country.
“It’s not unusual,” he said. “It is unusual that something this clear needs to have a court weigh in on it.”
In addition to Barela, the lawsuit names as defendants the Republican Party of New Mexico, Sen. James Townsend (R-Artesia), who is national committeeman for the state Republican party, and Treasurer Kimberly Skaggs.
It also contains two unnamed plaintiffs of the party’s State Central Committee, which is responsible for setting party rules and electing leaders. They were also “harmed by the actions” of party leaders who allegedly violated the party rules, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgement that removes Barela from her position as chair and prohibits defendants from further undermining party rules.
Patrick Lohmann is a reporter for Source New Mexico.
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